In a little over a year since he was drafted out of the University of Kentucky in round nine, former Moeller lefthander Zach Logue has made four minor league stops. Last year, he was briefly in the Rookie League with Bluefield before going to "short" A baseball in Vancouver.

This year, he began in "long" A with Lansing and now has shifted south to "advanced" A-ball in the Florida State League with the Dunedin Blue Jays. Dunedin is the spring home of the parent club, Toronto.

"I've been all over the place," Logue said of his travels. "Vancouver was definitely one of the coolest places. You have the mountains just north of the city. They actually have this thing called the Grouse Grind, where you climb the mountain and it's like two miles of steps almost straight up. It's 2,000 or 3,000 steps."

Once atop Grouse Mountain, Logue's climb was rewarded with a breathtaking view of Vancouver, British Columbia. His next climb to start 2018 was Lansing, maybe not as picturesque as Vancouver, but the Lugnuts provided an opportunity for his parents to see him pitch just one state away.

Now a solid 195 pounds thanks to pro workouts and Canadian mountains, Logue had some success in Lansing at 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 54 innings.

"I think the velocity's taken a little bit of a jump," Logue said. "Really the biggest thing is being able to stay healthy and strong for a lot of games. That helps with the stamina."

Logue was sent to Dunedin, which is the spring training home for the big-league Blue Jays at the end of May, and quickly picked up a couple of wins. After being 4-1 last season with a 1.47 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 30.2 innings between Blue Rock and Vancouver, Logue is pleased with his progress.

"I've had some success so far," Logue said. "My development has definitely gotten better. I've tweaked a few things with my mechanics and my change-up has gotten quite a bit better since college even. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now."

At Moeller, Logue led the Greater Catholic League-South in wins and strikeouts in back-to-back seasons. Moeller won the state title in 2013 and Logue was league Pitcher of the Year in 2014. In his final (junior) season at Kentucky, Logue was 7-5 with 88 strikeouts in 87 innings.

Kentucky pitcher Zach Logue pitches against Alabama in the first round of the SEC tournament.
Kentucky pitcher Zach Logue (39) pitches in the first inning against Alabama in the first round of the Southeastern Conference NCAA college baseball tournament in Hoover, Alabama(Photo: Vasha Hunt, Vasha Hunt, AP)

Logue also swung a decent bat at Moeller, hitting .375 his senior season with a home run and 25 runs batted in to top the GCL-South. As a junior, he hit .455. As a Blue Jay, he gets to admire the hitting from afar.

"I keep telling everybody they should see my swing, but I haven't been able to do it yet," Logue said of his lefty stroke. "I tell them I had a better average than Riley Mahan (Moeller/UK teammate now in Class A with the Marlins) that should speak for itself."

Mahan and Logue were part of Moeller's 2013 state title team, which ended with Logue jumping into catcher Cameron Whitehead's arms.

"We had a pretty solid run and kind of handled everyone that year," Logue said.

Zach's younger brother, Seth, who just finished his sophomore season at Moeller, will follow his brother's footsteps and attend UK to pitch. That leaves his parents often dividing up to catch the lefty (Zach) or the righty (Seth) standing on a mound somewhere.

"I'm glad he's had a lot of the same opportunities I had at Moeller," Logue said. "Moving on to Kentucky, hopefully, he can get himself a ring."

Logue's next stop, should he be promoted again, is New Hampshire, where Mason High product T.J. Zeuch just moved up to from Dunedin.

"I know they have some real good pitchers up in double-A," Logue said. "I'm just trying to take it one day at a time, get better a little bit every day and put myself in a position to get moved up when the time is right."

From Lansing to Dunedin is 1,253 miles. Dunedin to New Hampshire is 1,414 plus a lot of strikes and numerous recorded outs.